The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1887-04-07
Do NEW sPAPERs NOT BELONG TO THE
PUBLIC.

PlBIlt.
Last Sunday the Fort Gazette IN
commenting upon the stoppage of the
free pass system under the interstate
commerce law, branched OFT from the
subject in hand to use the following vigor-
rous and eminently just language:
If newspapers we're paid for all they do
for other people and other interests, they
would be as able to pay for what they re-
ceived RS other people, and great deal
more than many. Newspapers have only
themselves TO blame for the estimate In
which they are too generally held; work
ing so much for nothing to advance indl'
viduaI or the public interests, they feel
justified in accepting courtesies, for
which they are held as little better than
deadbeats. A modicum of business sense
and method injected into the profession
would add to its reputation, financially
and otherwise. Newspaper men
should charge for all they do and
pay for all they get, as Others do;
and, if this were the case, the squealing
would come from the dear people who
now affect to regard newspapers with such
sovereign contempt. DO these people
ever stop to think what they owe to news
papers, and how large the balance in favor
of the newspapers is for gratuitous per
formances?
There can be no controverting the JUS
tice of this position; every one will admit
it until the question is brought home to
himself and it is made personal matter;
then he thinks there should be an excep-
ton, and he should be favored while the
newspaper pays for it, The great mis-
take that is everywhere made about news
papers is that they belong TO the public
Does the public furnish the money to start
them? Does the public pay the printers!
Does the public arrange for the telegraph
bills, the reporters salaries, the white
paper and the thousand Other
necessary expenses that make the newspa-
per business an exceedingly costly
one? Does the public guarantee that the
bills due the paper shall be paid prompt
Igor in the absence ofsuch promptDess will
IDt hIHu DuDllC ICIhihu viz Dohhci ''H'
the utmost clemency should be extended
their institution When a newspaper, in
its zeal for the pubic's good, exposes men
like DIR. Salm and warns the community |
against them, does that public step in be-
tween the newspaper and the infamous IL
bel law, made to Cypress the press, and
save that paper the damages incurred for
doing its dutyH If the public does none
of these things, upon what grounds does 1t
claim ownership OF the press? The public
wants the news, and yet the price of that
news is most grudgingly given, n sub
scription for Il newspaper being O bill
subject to indefinite postponement.
Men, through the newspapers, advertise
their business to the world and enjoy the
benefits of such publicity, but the news
paper can whistle for its pay until other
and preferred creditors are satisfied.
Bad as this is, it is not all. Every
grievance a man has must be aired in the
papers; every time some one reflects upon
him he must answer in the public
prints. Men imagine that everything
concerning them interests the public.
And for all this,the newspapers must give
their space free, and pay for setting up
the type.
There is need of revolution of senti
Al mi
paper business is as much a legitimate
money-making business as any in the
country. 1t belongs as much to the men
who put their money into it as the goods
on the merchants shelves do not belong
to the public. The STATESMAN, for its
part, will join hands with the press of
Texas to firmly establish this business
rule.